Sure, it's winter, and it's cold outside. If you have to drive somewhere and your car has been sitting outside, your car is going to be cold. But idling your car to warm it up isn't doing that much.
Driving the car heats the engine more quickly than simple idling, and will get the system heated up more quickly. Even in very cold weather, only a few seconds of idling is needed to get the car ready to drive. Running the engine to drive the car will warm up the heater faster, as well as getting you to your destination more quickly so that the engine has to run for a shorter length of time.
Idling also burns fuel less efficiently than when the engine is under load. Letting the engine idle to warm it up means that in addition to the carbon dioxide being emitted from the tailpipe, there will be more incompletely burned compounds going into the air. Engine idling puts more volatile organic compounds (VOCs), nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, benzene and other pollutants into the atmosphere. And, in winter conditions, emissions from idling vehicles are more than double the normal level immediately after a cold start.
As the CarTalk guys say, "The fact is, cars these days don't need to be warmed up. Except in below-zero conditions, you can just start the engine and drive off."
Yet another hat tip to John Beeson!
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written by Charlie Roy, January 09, 2011
Should I assume that the article is referring to "below zero" in Fahrenheit and not Celsius?
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written by MickR, January 09, 2011
that it can take up to two minutes for oil to actually reach the valve train at the top of your engine, so just starting it and driving off will cause unnecessary wear and end up forcing you to drive a car that is less efficient sooner and have to replace it sooner.
The "expert" who claims a car can just be started and driven off immediately is either a fool or trying to make people buy new cars sooner.
The "expert" who claims a car can just be started and driven off immediately is either a fool or trying to make people buy new cars sooner.
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written by Jay K, January 09, 2011
Don't start driving until your windows are sufficiently defrosted, though.
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written by landoncube, January 09, 2011
Are you under the impression that people warm up their cars to improve the car's performance?
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written by kent c, January 09, 2011
I think carbon monoxide is the harmful fume released via the tailpipe. Carbon dioxide allows plants to breath; all animals exhale CO2 but CO is the result of combustion.
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written by Doc Rings, January 09, 2011
I listened to that episode of Car Talk, and they were discussing car warming strategies with a women from Ely, Minnesota.
She had a pan warmer, so they recommended no idling required to "warm up" her car, specifically.
They DID say that if it is below zero farenheit, with no block heater, to idle a couple minutes at most, and then SLOWLY drive away, keeping the RPM below 2000 until it heats up. No jack-rabbit starts with the block stone cold when it's below zero.
I will add that using 5w-30 *full-synthetic* will REALLY help with oil fluidity to motor bearing at at low temps.
She had a pan warmer, so they recommended no idling required to "warm up" her car, specifically.
They DID say that if it is below zero farenheit, with no block heater, to idle a couple minutes at most, and then SLOWLY drive away, keeping the RPM below 2000 until it heats up. No jack-rabbit starts with the block stone cold when it's below zero.
I will add that using 5w-30 *full-synthetic* will REALLY help with oil fluidity to motor bearing at at low temps.
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written by Joel, January 09, 2011
I've always been taught that you idle the car to save wear + tear on the engine. Metal, like everything else expands when heated. If you heat the pistons too much before the engine block gets warm, you'll cause too much friction inside the cylinders and lower the life of your engine. New or old, metal still expands/contracts, so heating up slowly is actually a good thing for folks who want to keep a car around for 250,000 miles or more.
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written by JimW, January 09, 2011
@MickR
If you use the right grade of oil I really don't ever see that. Unless of course it's below zero like the article said. Don't believe me though, educate yourself. This is a good place to start.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/
If you use the right grade of oil I really don't ever see that. Unless of course it's below zero like the article said. Don't believe me though, educate yourself. This is a good place to start.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/
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written by MickR, January 10, 2011
I've already seen the studies and x-ray (yes there IS a way to look through a metal block with x-rays, no you don't want to be in the room with it) film of what REALLY happens, not what some guy speculates. It can take up to two full minutes for oil to reach the top of a cold engine and the colder it is the worse it is. A hot engine might only need a few seconds.
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written by Miller, January 10, 2011
Sorry but its sometimes -40 here in a Canada... cant help but turn it on and let it simmer for 10 minutes, always nice when my seats are warmed and the chill is out of the car
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written by Ben, January 10, 2011
Joel's comment about piston rings is identical to another comment offered to me today:
you can do that, but the problem is wear and tear on your piston rings; going from one extreme to the other causes the pistons rings to flex and melt down. once that happens, the oil coolant and the motor oil mix causing a mini, repetitive fire on the wrong side of the pistons, and then you score the head gasket and the engine head. replacing this on any car usually costs the low end of $2500 you might spend that over the course of the 8 years of just getting in and driving, but i would think that paying over time is better than paying all at once and not having a car for 1-3 weeks.
Can you address this specifically?
you can do that, but the problem is wear and tear on your piston rings; going from one extreme to the other causes the pistons rings to flex and melt down. once that happens, the oil coolant and the motor oil mix causing a mini, repetitive fire on the wrong side of the pistons, and then you score the head gasket and the engine head. replacing this on any car usually costs the low end of $2500 you might spend that over the course of the 8 years of just getting in and driving, but i would think that paying over time is better than paying all at once and not having a car for 1-3 weeks.
Can you address this specifically?
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written by Mike, January 11, 2011
While there might be some people who let their car idle for too long it would be nice to see cities focus on making their stop lights timed better so we didn't go from light to light sitting at idle. That to me would be a huge benefit to both drivers and the environment. Won't ever happen as the cities would lose gas tax revenue and that wouldn't benefit them.
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written by Djarada, January 18, 2011
Here in Deutschland(Germany),it´s illegal to idle longer than 20 seconds.
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written by Aud, January 18, 2011
Well if people in Deutschland (Germany) CAN'T idle longer than 20 seconds than I have to believe that idling is really not THAT necessary because if the people in Germany had to suffer replacing pistons, the head gasket, etc on a car at the expense of $2,500 due to interior engine damage I am sure that law would be repealed very quickly.
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written by Sandy, January 24, 2011
In Germany they even had a special light at major stoplights, indicating when to SHUT OFF the engine, due to a long "red" phase!
So the "10 second rule" makes sense, even "in traffic", when it comes to extended waiting for the light to change!
I know some of those stoplights here in Missouls, MT, and shut the engine off when I arrive shortly after a light change!
( I also AM from Germany, and drive a SMART car...)
So the "10 second rule" makes sense, even "in traffic", when it comes to extended waiting for the light to change!
I know some of those stoplights here in Missouls, MT, and shut the engine off when I arrive shortly after a light change!
( I also AM from Germany, and drive a SMART car...)
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